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I am so proud to be a Principal of a government school, proud of public education and proud of our colleges. Even though our Annual Prize Night was cancelled this year due to the recent restrictions placed on large gatherings, we still want to acknowledge and celebrate the success of our students in 2019. Approximately 140 students received awards for their outstanding achievements in 2019, many of them winning multiple academic awards. There were three students across the state with perfect scores; all from government colleges and two of them from Elizabeth College. Pretty amazing!

I am sure you will share my pride in last year’s external results:

• Our two duxes, Charls Jibi and Harshika Herath, obtained perfect scores of 99.95

• 43 students achieved an ATAR of 90 and above, and 20 of these achieved an ATAR of 96 and above

• 6 Elizabeth College students received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for 2019 from the Governor at Government House

• Elizabeth College had 9 students in the top 100 in the State

Please visit www.elizabethcollege@tas.edu.au to see the 2019 Prize Night Program, which includes the award recipients, a short video presentation from each of our duxes, recognising their achievement and accepting their gold medals, and a video presentation that highlights the many learning and enrichment activities students participated in during 2019.

During the last few weeks of term 1, I witnessed the resilience and dedication of our staff, who had to quickly adapt to the unprecedented circumstances

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak, ensuring that everyone on campus could study and work in a safe and hygienic environment. Up until recently, teachers had the added pressure of managing their classes and supporting students working from home. While this is not ideal under any circumstances, our College and the Department of Education have put measures in place that will support our teachers, so that they can deliver courses in a way that is fair, equitable and accessible for all students.

I wish to thank all the staff at Elizabeth College for also providing a caring and supportive learning environment for our students in a time of uncertainty and constant change. I cannot overstate the crucial role played by our Student Services team, which includes our psychologist, counsellors, youth workers, social worker, chaplain, and security. This year we are pleased to add the services of a school health nurse and aboriginal education worker.

This is a time when we need to be mindful and measured in how we treat others. We need to monitor our mental wellbeing and ‘check-in’ with others around us, and ask ‘Are you okay?’ We need to care for those who are vulnerable in our society. I am hopeful that this will be remembered as a time when our community pulled together and demonstrated patience, kindness, compassion and common sense. Our children can be truly resilient, if we show them how.

Dr Dianne Purnell

Dr Dianne Purnell with VET students from Construction and Hospitality

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CHARLS JIBI YEAR 12 DUX

Formerly from St Virgil’s College, Charls studied Maths Methods, Physical Sciences, Economics, English 3, Maths Specialised, Chemistry, Biology and HAP (University of Tasmania) Maths at Elizabeth College.

Charls found his Year 11 and 12 studies at Elizabeth College both enjoyable and challenging, with our ECAAD and Enrichment programs providing him with further opportunities to make more friends, to try something new and to encourage a work-study balance. He especially enjoyed participating in the titration and maths relay competitions.

Charls would like to acknowledge and thank the teachers at Elizabeth College for their guidance and help over the past two years. He believes the supportive atmosphere at Elizabeth College motivates students, as well as creating a positive environment for learning.

This year, Charls commenced a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Tasmania. He believes that the study skills he developed during his College years will assist him along his chosen pathway.

HARSHIKA HERATH YEAR 12 DUX

Prior to attending Elizabeth College, Harshika attended Mount Stuart Primary and Ogilvie High Schools. At Elizabeth College she enjoyed studying Economics, Biology, Maths Specialised, English Literature and Chemistry.

Harshika is extremely grateful to her teachers, especially those in ECAAD and the sciences, who provided her with the support, kindness and encouragement to continue working hard and pursue her ambitions. She feels grateful to have been a part of ECAAD, as she believes that being around other students who were hard-working and positive, as well as being provided with extra opportunities, motivated her to achieve her goals.

Harshika is also extremely thankful for her friends and family, who not only provided her with academic support, but also encouraged her to pursue her interests and aspirations.

This year, Harshika is studying Medicine at Monash University, which will allow her to explore her interests in the field of science, as well as pursuing both a fulfilling and challenging occupation in which she can have a direct and positive effect in other peoples’ lives.

RUBY-QUESTA COLLIS YEAR 11 DUX

A former student of Taroona High School, Ruby-Questa studied Maths Methods 4, English Literature 3, Biology 3 and Physical Sciences 3 at Elizabeth College. The supportive environment of ECAAD encouraged both her personal development and academic excellence. She found the talks from various scientists particularly exciting, as they provided insight into the diverse range of careers available in STEM.

Ruby-Questa attributes her enjoyment of Year 11 to her knowledgeable teachers who were able to answer questions far outside the scope of their courses.

In Year 12, Ruby-Questa is studying Maths Specialised 4, Physics 4, Chemistry 4 and Economics 3, and hopes to study immunology at the University of Melbourne.

RECOGNISING OUR PRIZE WINNERS

Even though we were unable to hold our Annual Prize Night due to the social distancing restrictions, we are still celebrating our students’ achievements on our website. You can see the speeches by our two duxes, Harshika Herath and Charls Jibi, who both achieved ATAR scores of 99.95 at www.elizabethcollege.tas.edu.au

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ELIZABETH BROWN

Elizabeth has joined the library team, working as a library technician/production assistant. She spent the past 18 years as a library technician at Cosgrove High School, and about 12 years before that at the State Library and TAFE Library in North West Tasmania. She says that Elizabeth College is a great place to work and that staff have been both welcoming and tolerant of her many questions. Her main interests include walking, crochet and her dogs.

JESSICA HARRIS

Jessica teaches Certificate II in Retail Cosmetics, and comes with a wealth of experience in the beauty industry. She previously owned and operated Skindulgence in Hobart’s CBD for ten years, and has a major in Bachelor of Arts, Business. She has enjoyed sharing her real world experience with her students and has found the staff at Elizabeth College to be inclusive and supportive while she’s learning the ropes.

Jessica was appointed official beauty therapist for the Hobart International Tennis tournament and has worked as a makeup artist for Bride Tasmania and Pure Bride Expo. She has even abseiled down Wrest Point Casino dressed as Wonder Woman!

WELCOME TO OUR STAFF

SALLY WESTLAND

Sally is our new school psychologist, after filling that role at Hobart College. She says that she is really impressed with the Student Services team at Elizabeth College, who are ‘a great bunch, and very organised’. She enjoys sailing (yacht racing, dinghy sailing, windsurfing), and took a year’s leave in 2019 to sail the South-West Pacific. Music is her other passion, as she believes it is ‘good for the soul.’

CHRIS CATO

Chris teaches Physical Sciences 3 and Maths Methods 4, and has a background in engineering. He recently returned to Tasmania after teaching maths and science at a state school in Brisbane. He says that his experience at Elizabeth College has been fantastic and he is impressed by our hard-working, professional and supportive staff (and students!). Chris’ interests include basketball and hiking, and he also has an interest in robotics and digital technologies.

ISSAC GENGE

Issac is our new Network Support Officer, who recently worked as IT support at Taroona Primary, Taroona High School, Kingston Primary and the Kingston Library - all at once! He says that the staff at Elizabeth College are friendly and he enjoys DJ-ing in his spare time.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome and introduce our new teachers and support staff for 2020.

Clockwise from back left: Issac Genge, Jessica Harris, Sally Westland, Chris Cato and Elizabeth Brow

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SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST SALLY WESTLAND

At the start of term, Elizabeth College welcomed our new school psychologist, Sally Westland. Sally is trained in Clinical Psychology, which involves treating a wide range of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. She also has expertise in the assessment of cognitive abilities (IQ), learning disorders (for example, dyslexia) and ADHD. Her role involves providing psychological therapy for students and doing assessments to support TASC Reasonable Adjustments applications (previously known as Special Exam Consideration).

Sally enjoys working with college age students, and appreciates their openness to new ways of thinking and behaving. The therapeutic approach she mainly uses is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which focuses on moving towards the kind of life the person would really like to be living, and behaving like the kind of person they really want to be. It tends to focus on the present and future, rather than spending lots of time delving into the past. The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris is a great book on this approach, and for college age students, Sally recommends, Stuff That Sucks.

With all that’s going on at the moment, Sally stresses the importance of looking after both our physical and mental health. Students can continue to work with Sally through telepsych counselling during this current period. Websites such as ReachOut, headspace, Youth Beyond Blue, and Bite Back are great sources of mental health information and support for young people. What’s Up? is also a useful app that supports mental health.

STUDENT SERVICES WELCOMES NEW STAFF

At the start of this year, school health nurse, Jesse Blackaby, joined our Student Services team. Jesse is a Registered Nurse and has a Bachelor of Nursing, and Graduate Diploma of Nursing (Emergency). She has been a school health nurse for three years and has worked in the hospital system for ten years. She ‘loves working with young people’ and enjoys promoting health and wellbeing to this age group.

Her focus for our student community is to raise awareness in areas such as sexual health, mental health, drug and alcohol education, positive parenting for teens and wellbeing in general. Jesse started the term visiting classrooms and was also involved in school activities. Jesse’s office is based in Student Services and her days at College are: Tuesday, Wednesday and alternate Thursdays. Students can contact Jesse through Student Services on 6235 6559 or email jesse.blackaby@education.tas.gov.au

SCHOOL HEALTH NURSE JESSE BLACKABY

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ECAAD CAMPIn February, 75 Elizabeth College Academic Diploma (ECAAD) students and their ECAAD teachers, Sophie Gibson, Marty Goss, Jason Hoare, Jennie MacDonald and Will Walker, travelled to the Tasman Peninsula to take part in the annual ECAAD Camp.

Their first stop was Clifton Beach where students participated in surf lessons, yoga and mindfulness. Later that afternoon at Tasman District School, they listened to a presentation by Dr Jason Hoare on resilience,

self-reflection and flourishing, and started some goal-setting for the year ahead, before setting up camp at the Eaglehawk Dive Centre.

The following day, the Grade 11s toured the Port Arthur Historic site, while the Grade 12s enjoyed the stunning scenery on the Pennicott Tour, which took them on a thrilling and educational journey from Pirates Bay, past Cape Huay, Cape Pillar and Tasman Island, and finishing at Stewart’s Bay.

One of the main aims of the camp is to build relationships between ECAAD members, which is especially important given the size of the group. It is also a great opportunity to establish the expectations for the year ahead, and students were given time to consider their goals and how they can achieve them both as an individual and as a member of the ECAAD group. One student commented that it was “a great way to get to know everyone and learn more about ECAAD and college life.”

JAZZ SCHOLARSHIP WINNERSThe Clarence Jazz Festival has been a highlight of Hobart’s music scene for the past 24 years, and draws thousands of music and jazz enthusiasts from around the state and beyond. Historically, Elizabeth College students have featured prominently in the line-up and have been awarded scholarships since the programme began. Of the three scholarships available in 2019, all were awarded to Elizabeth College students. This is a wonderful affirmation of not only the talent of our music students, but also the expertise and experience of the teachers and aides in our music department. This year’s winners, Sebastian Folvig, Elijah Davies and Billie Raffety received lessons from UTAS lecturers and performance opportunities at the Festival with visiting guests, such as trombonist and singer Dan Barnett. All three winners currently study UTAS music at Elizabeth College and participate in a variety of performing arts events within the community.

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VET: REAL WORLD LEARNING EXPERIENCEVocational Education and Training (VET) courses at Elizabeth College offer students the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in an industry they are interested in working in, preparing them for work once they finish Year 12. Through nationally accredited courses, our VET students are developing their skills and knowledge in specialised areas including: Automotive, Construction, Bricklaying, Plastering, Children’s Services, Retail Cosmetics, Kitchen Operations, Hospitality, Business Administration, Tourism, and Sport and Recreation. They can also develop work ready skills and knowledge through our generic VET course, Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways.

Our VET teachers have a wealth of knowledge and skills within each chosen industry and are either currently working in their industry or maintaining strong connections, and engaging with and updating their skills in that industry each year in order to deliver the most up-to-date and relevant industry program to our students.

Earlier this term VET courses provided our students with real world learning experiences, such as, our automotive workshop, running sporting events at local schools, working in our commercial kitchen, and serving customers in our café.

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EC LIBRARY: A CENTRE OF LEARNINGLibraries are the centre of learning for many communities. Even in this technological age, where we can access information at the click of a button, libraries are still relevant spaces that bring people together for study, work and leisure.

At Elizabeth College, our library staff play a vital supportive role for our students and teachers. Teacher librarian Karen Berechree, teacher Marie-Rose Genovese and library technicians Marissa Allen, Leanne Fitzpatrick and Elizabeth Brown, all bring a diverse range of experience and skills to our library team. They can help students with student cards, accessing information and learning resources, borrowing books,

DVDs and cameras, and printing and binding. Karen provides additional support to students to develop their research skills, their understanding of academic integrity and referencing, and accessing Turnitin (an online academic integrity service used in many courses).

While the library offers a quiet place for private study, time-out and reflection, it is also a communal space where students can enjoy the company and support of friends in small study groups, or bond as they build Lego or complete a puzzle together.

Like most places where people gather in large social groups, libraries have recently closed around the state to stem the spread of COVID-19, and this also includes our library. We look forward to a time when we can reopen our library’s doors and students can once again access this wonderful learning space.

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LANGUAGES: THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY

LITERACY: A STEP TOWARDS SUCCESSA key goal of Elizabeth College and the Department of Education is helping students to develop their literacy skills and confidence, so they can successfully participate in learning, life and work.

Literacy Coaches have been appointed to schools throughout Tasmania to help teachers focus on the literacy requirements of every subject. Our Literacy Coach, Sarah Cupit has been working with Level 2 classes to identify and respond to the challenges many students face in accessing the curriculum and communicating their knowledge and understanding.

Sarah says that students, parents and teachers need to be aware that “College is a substantial step up from Year 10. For many students, their literacy focus will be understanding the more complex vocabulary that comes with study in Years 11 and 12, speaking with confidence and effectiveness, developing academic writing, and accessing the diverse range of texts that they may encounter across their range of subjects.

“While students are really capable of communicating in their personal and social contexts, learning the language of many academic or vocational subjects is a new skill.”

Sarah is also working closely with teachers and classes, to implement the Elizabeth College Literacy Action Plan, which will see the development of consistent practices in teaching, assessment and communications across the College.

Chinese classes began this year with a once in a lifetime opportunity when they were visited by Calligraphy Master Shaoqing Fang. He took the Chinese 2 and 3 students through the process of creating expressive images from Chinese characters using brush and ink – the most widely practiced and most revered form of Chinese art. The well-known master artist visited

Hobart during our summer. He runs his own art school of 700 students near Shanghai and is celebrated for developing his unique style of this ancient practice. The Chinese classroom is now adorned with colourful and elegant mementos of this memorable cultural experience.

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FROM THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

The English Department has long inhabited F Block, a heritage building at the heart of Elizabeth College’s campus. Within its historic sandstone walls, English students have been busy reading, viewing, analysing, reflecting and responding creatively to the world around them and the texts they are studying.

This term, English 3 students immersed themselves in the dystopian worlds of 1984, Children of Men and Gattaca; Literature classes explored the theme of love in poems spanning four centuries; Writing students studied the tools and craft of creative writing; Applied classes explored life writing and film; and English Foundation students reflected on the changing attitudes to difference and diversity in Australian texts.

Next term, the English Department plans to hold its annual Elizabeth College Writing Competition and students across the College are encouraged to enter their poetry. They don’t have to be enrolled in an English course to enter. All short-listed poems will be automatically entered into the prestigious Dorothy Mackellar Poetry Competition, which is open to school age students from across Australia.

MY WILLOW

This could be a sad story about an old childhood friend, but I can’t think of one moment when you let me down. I climbed your sturdy branches from the time I could reach the closest foothold, and swung on your vine-like branches until my hands were raw. In my dreams I still run to you in the summer and play in your weeping fortress, allowing my body to absorb the smell of the Midwest. In winter I would slowly climb through the bitter snow to stare at your cold limbs, wishing for your leaves in spring, so we can play together again.

You’re the start of many explanations to my mother for every graze on my skin. Do you remember when I climbed your branches up to the sky, so high that the other kids rushed to find my mother? I hope you do, because it’s my favourite memory of us.

The trees here aren’t quite the same as you. Their leaves don’t fall like yours, or wisp around to sing me a spring melody. The wolf spiders and carpenter ants that made their homes in your mossy limbs aren’t the same as the huntsman and stinging ants that lurk in the trees here. They aren’t the same as you, but that’s what makes you memorable.

One day I’ll travel across the world just to climb your sturdy branches, to play in your weeping fortress and create one last memory with you.

Austyn Skierka (English Writing 3)

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FOND MEMORIES OF FIRST DAYS AT COLLEGE …At the start of this term, students enjoyed a presentation from The Resilience Project, meeting their new teachers and classes, a barbeque and socialising with friends. While these photos were taken long before social distancing measures, hopefully, a return to the time when friends can put their arms around each other won’t be too far away.

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RESILIENCE IN ACTION AT ELIZABETH COLLEGE

Resilience is one of Elizabeth College’s key priorities and building resilient young people lies at the heart of our academic, vocational and pastoral care programs. Our aim is to help students move forward with hope and confidence, which is so important in this current environment of global uncertainty.

At the start of the year, the College invited The Resilience Project (a Melbourne-based organisation that runs mental health and wellbeing programs) to speak to forums of students, teachers and the wider Hobart community. Presenter, Martin Heppell shared three simple strategies for better mental health: the practice of gratitude, empathy for others and mindfulness.

Resilience starts with the genuine, respectful relationships between teachers and students at Elizabeth College. Our classrooms and learning programs create a safe space where our students can explore and take risks, with the support of their

teachers and peers. Our Home Group program, counsellors, youth workers, psychologist, chaplain and nurse offer a further safety net for students who need additional support.

Our focus on resilience can be seen in the challenging teaching and learning programs that allow our students to step outside their comfort zone, whether they are trying rock hopping/climbing for the first time or trusting their peers during a Fusion High Ropes Course.

At Elizabeth College, students are encouraged to rise to the challenge and to try something new, knowing that their teachers and their friends have got their back.

elizabethcollege.tas.edu.au | (03) 6235 6555 |